During the mid-1970s the impetus for founding a Jewish Theatre Association stemmed from the energy and commitment of two individuals. Although living over a thousand miles apart and of different professional backgrounds, Norman Fedder and Steve Reisner each simultaneously began exploring his Jewish heritage through theatre. Increasingly fascinated and moved by these experiences, each felt the need to form a theatre organization specifically devoted to the Jewish experience.

In 1972, Norman Fedder, the head of the Playwrights Workshop at Kansas State University, directed a student's play based on the life of Jeremiah. As Fedder recalls, the discussion with the audience which followed “was one of the most exciting experiences I ever had in the theatre.” As a result of this performance, Fedder, a dramatist with many community productions to his credit, was commissioned to write and direct other works with religious themes for several churches and synagogues.